England's Danny Welbeck, Mexico's Carlos Vela, Roque Santa Cruz, of Paraguay, and Ireland's Robbie Keane are all international players who have been loaned from top-five clubs by teams in the lower half, which has helped to reduce the disparity in talent from top to bottom.

Manchester City insist they will not let their large cast of unwanted fringe players leave for nothing despite knowing that if they cannot find buyers for players such as Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz they will lose millions of pounds in "dead money" via the extraordinary salary structure at Eastlands.